Ratchet and Clank: Family of Heroes

by Blackdrag-rose

Rift Apart: Savali

During the flight to Savali it was far too easy for Starswirl to see that Ratchet was happy, especially after the call that they had with Clank not that long ago, though he couldn't fault his brother for whatever he was feeling right now, because all of their hard work had been successful. Ratchet, at long last, was in the same dimension that his long lost twin sister was in, he knew that she was safe, and was traveling with Autumn and Clank, and that she was willing to help them reforge the very device Clank had intended to give him earlier that day. Part of his personal quest, to find his sister and bring her home, was actually over, at long last, and for his brother such a thing meant everything to him, far more than Starswirl originally thought when he agreed to help set up the birthday celebration. The only part about this that could even ruin his mood was the fact that he and Rivet hadn't met yet, in fact the only time one had seen the other was back on Nefarious City, which just so happened to be when he caught sight of his sister, but Ratchet wasn't letting that get him down.

In fact Starswirl was sure that this was the happiest he had seen his brother in all the years they had saved the galaxies from the various dangers each of them happened to be facing, and he agreed with Ratchet, once both groups were done with their missions, and the multiverse was safe, they'd come back to help Rivet.

"Savali, straight ahead." Ratchet said, spotting the planet in question as their ship headed for it, where he looked at it for a few seconds and wondered if they had been here before, when they were fighting the Juggernaut in Nefarious City and were dragged around by the dimensional rifts, "So, where do you think we'll find this Prophet?"

"Hm, it's hard to say. Based on Clank's brief explanation, I'm going to assume he's like the Plumber," Starswirl replied, as he had been thinking about it since the call that allowed them to figure out what they had to do next, especially the part where Clank mentioned the Dimensional Archives, which just seemed like something their oldest ally might be linked to in some manner, "if that's the case, we'll likely find him near the landing pad so we can learn about whatever is going on with his planet... because whenever have we gone to a planet and not dealt with a problem... and if he's not like him we'll likely have to search part of the planet to find him."

"Okay, let's hope it's the former and not the latter." Ratchet commented, as it would make things easier for them in the long run, since they wouldn't have to run around the entire mesa that seemed to be the designated landing spot in their ship's navigation system, before he braced himself as he took them down to Urfdah Mesa, causing him to wonder who in their right mind named the place.

As Ratchet took them down Starswirl found himself agreeing with his brother, this planet definitely looked like the area they had been brought to while fighting the Juggernaut, as he spotted the four large machines that they had seen before having to fight the robot again. From what he could see it looked as if things were normal, no one was attacking the planet or chasing them down, but, like everything they had experienced in the past, he was sure that things would change after they landed and purchased some new weapons to add to their arsenals. A few seconds later they landed and the brothers climbed out without delay, where they found Ms. Zurkon waiting a little bit ahead of them and, more importantly, she had new weapons to hand them as soon as they stopped in front of her, the same ones that Rivet and Autumn had bought not that long ago. In addition to that they added one more to their arsenal, the Drillhound, which fired drilling seeker missiles, in the form of drills, before making sure to upgrade it with some of the Raritanium they had gathered over the years and their many adventures, which she was eager to take in exchange for her services.

Once they were done, and outfitted for whatever the near future held for them, they walked down the path that was right in front of them, finding that it seemed to be heading towards a village, even though it was a slim path with nowhere else to go, with massive chasms around them, before they spotted someone, a Goon whose attire suggested he was more at peace with himself and the world.

"Excuse me, we're looking for a Prophet named Gary." Ratchet said, speaking as they came to a stop near the figure, who seemed to be in the middle of flipping through the book that was in his hands, clearly thinking about something right now, meaning he might not even hear them say anything to him for a time, "We were told that he could help us figure out how to make a new Dimensionator."

"Ratchet?" the lizard inquired, where he turned around for a moment and his eyes widened as he realized who had come to visit Savali, he even closed his book the instant he spotted them, tucked it under his arm, and gestured to him, as if he was surprised to see them so soon, or something to that effect, and he even did the same to Starswirl before pointing to himself for a few seconds, "Ratchet! Starswirl! I am Gary... I must say, your reputation precedes you! You'll need to go to the Dimensional Archives, where my apprentice can help you find what you're looking for... but..."

In that moment, as Gary gestured to the blue topped building, no doubt the Dimensional Archives, there was a small scale explosion in or near the village, which allowed them to see Troopers were definitely inside the area that happened to be near the structure they needed to investigate.

"Let me guess: the village is under attack?" Starswirl inquired, once more confirming what they had said before landing on the landing pad, whenever they visited a planet during their adventures things usually changed in some manner, just like how the peaceful planet was suddenly under attack, even though it seemed like the Troopers had been getting into their positions before attacking.

"Town, actually. How did you know?" Gary asked, where it sounded like his mind wasn't all there or something, as if he was seeing multiple things while he stood there, or maybe they were imagining things right now and it was just how he looked all the time.

"Don't worry, we'll take care of it." Ratchet replied, because it seemed like it was the first step to figuring out how to forge a new Dimensionator, since this mesa was massive and revealed that they would be here for some time, fighting the rest of the Troopers and doing whatever needed to be done on this planet.

After speaking with Gary the brothers started to move down the path in front of them and discovered a sniper Trooper, as in a floating spherical robot designed to snip enemies, complaining about how this situation was unfair as it loosed a laser as it's targets, Sandsharks and the pod that they emerged from. While it was distracted with it's sulking, being miserable with the area it had been assigned to, the brothers opened fire on it and tore their target down with ease, before it even knew it was under attack, allowing them to turn their attention on the Sandsharks. While doing that Starswirl found what appeared to be mushrooms that one could bounce on, as they allowed him and Ratchet to jump up and reach the entrance of the town that the remaining Troopers were currently besieging right now, a place that seemed empty since no one was running for their lives or anything. Interestingly enough they discovered that none of the Troopers were expecting a surprise attack from behind, as the first few fell before the others even knew what hit them, and even when they did turn on the brothers their power was diminished thanks to all those who fell within the first few moments.

As such, with their combined arsenals and their skills, it wasn't long before the town was safe from the Troopers and they walked over to the earthen ramp that would allow them to enter the Dimensional Archives, though as they did so it sensed a dimensional rift and started to move, no doubt to protect itself, causing a small Clank sized robot to fall off of it, one that was yellow colored, had two bulbs on it's head, and a triangle made of three blue orbs on it's chest.

"Are you okay? That was quite the landing." Ratchet asked, though his initial though was that they had just found the robot that was Clank's dimensional counterpart, she was the same size, as they heard a female voice coming from it when it talked about being embarrassed over the fall, and Starswirl likely agreed with him.

"Who are you two? Why are you looking at me like that?" the robot inquired, showing them that she was fine, because she was able to stand up without too much trouble and dusted herself off after doing so, though with that done she brought her hands together as she took a step back, either due to being shy or whatever problems she internally had.

"You'll have to forgive us, we know someone that you instantly reminded us of." Starswirl replied, remembering when Clank first joined the family and they shared their first adventure together, likely recalling the first few days to be exact, before he got to the matter at hand, since they were stressed for time, "You wouldn't happen to be Gary's apprentice, would you? We came here to learn how to make a Dimensionator and he said that you would be able to help us."

The robot confirmed that she was, in fact, Gary's apprentice and that there wasn't much she could do since her Archives were, at that very moment, walking away from them, though what was interesting was when Ratchet mentioned teaming up with her she instantly shied away from him. Her reasoning was that she 'wouldn't be a good partner', meaning something must have happened in her past to make her like this, though Ratchet and Starswirl had an idea, the same one to be exact, a promise that they'd stick together for this adventure, as in this planet, and if things went badly they'd go their separate ways without asking any questions. She stared at them for a time, clearly debating her choices since it was clear she couldn't get up to the Dimensional Archives without their help, or maybe she could if she asked Gary, before she agreed to join them for the time being, no doubt to help them figure out how to reforge the Dimensionator. She also informed them that they would need a pair of Hoverboots to cross the chasm, to reach the mesa, where the brothers surprised her by revealing that their boots had the function, explaining that their sister, Autumn, installed their old Hoverboots inside them, before speeding up the ramp and using the booster to propel themselves over to the mesa.

The Assistant, for lack of a better name, informed them that the Emperor's forces were attacking and that they needed to go to all three of the temples that were scattered around the mesa, those being the Mountain Temple, the Primeval Forest Temple, and the Temple D'Badlands, or the Badlands Temple as they called it. The reason behind going to those areas was to track down Gary's acolytes, as they would be able to help them reach the Dimensional Archives, causing the brothers to nod their heads as they headed for a small town, as Starswirl spotted Ms. Zurkon off in the distance and figured that they could make a quick stop. The Assistant also introduced herself as KT-7416, causing them to introduce themselves as well, since they didn't want her to give them any weird nicknames, before she spotted one of the senior monks standing off to the side, near a building that was made out of stone, while being large enough for him to live in. The figure was actually a peaceful Goon, meaning the Monks were this dimension's version of the Goons, there was no denying that fact, and he was actually overjoyed to meet a Lombax, leading to him calling him 'brother', in terms of seekers of truth and knowledge, while gesturing to a nearby object.

Ratchet and Starswirl discovered that it was, as the figure claimed, a Lombax shrine, dormant since the day it was installed in the ground of Savali, which was as tall as Ratchet was and was shaped in the vague form of a Lombax, though as soon as he walked up to it the shrine activated, revealing a silver and blue sphere for him to pick up.

"Oh, that's a Lorb... the other Monks told me that they hold precious knowledge on Lombax history." KT-7416 stated, as she was interested in what all of the Lorbs might possess, because there were twelve shrines scattered throughout the mesa, all dormant since no Lombaxes existed on this planet, though with Ratchet here she suspected that they might be able to learn whatever was contained within them.

Ratchet said nothing as he carefully tapped the side of the Lorb and it came to life before their eyes, causing KT-7416 to jump off his back, where she ended up after agreeing to join the brothers on their quest, as they waited for it to reveal the information that was contained inside it.

So I had a weird meeting this morning: Kaden came in to chat with me. a voice said, where Ratchet's eyes widened for a moment as he traveled back to when he and Rivet were babies, just like the time when he recalled the true form of the Dimensionator, as he partly recalled the voice in question, as their father had talked with him a few times, Apparently the Council liked my mapping work on Savali enough that they want me to expand it... by mapping every dimension... as in everything that exists in the multiverse... yeah, that might be completely impossible.

"He must be referring to the Dimensional Map, which is the most important artifact we have in the Archives... most of the senior Monks felt the Lombaxes made it and it seems they were right." KT-7416 remarked, as while the information inside this Lorb wasn't what she was expecting, because she was hoping for something more about Lombax history itself and not about some of their artifacts, she was happy to have discovered it.

Ratchet returned to the Monk that was watching them and asked if he could pinpoint the other shrines for him, because while they were here he intended on finding all twelve to see what sort of story they weaved together, which he handed over without delay, seeing the fire in Ratchet's eyes no doubt. With that information in hand Ratchet decided to focus on the three temples that they needed to visit, to see if the other Monks were fine or if they were under attack, though while they did so KT-7416 asked the brothers how they got here. Starswirl informed her of the situation, that he, Autumn, and a number of others had repaired the original Dimensionator, so it could be given to Ratchet as a present so he could find his long lost twin sister, before it was stolen by Dr. Nefarious, the dimensional counterpart of Emperor Nefarious. While such a thing worried her she also asked Ratchet if he knew why his people would have left the buildings and structures behind, like the Dimensional Archives, where he revealed that he really didn't know and had to guess that it was to ensure that the information on the Dimensionator and this Dimensional Map were safe, out of their enemy's hands.

Starswirl agreed with that idea, because Kaden had been worried that Tachyon might claim the Dimensionator and seek to invade the other dimensions that existed in the multiverse, so keeping a Dimensional Map, which likely pinpointed where the Lombaxes went, safe seemed like something they would do.

The Badlands Temple happened to be near the leftmost edge of the mesa, where they found that the Troopers had put all of the Monks in an area behind a shield that rested in the middle of the entire area, so Ratchet dropped KT-7416 off right in front of a command terminal. As she hacked into the software, to power down the shield so the Monks could be freed, he and Starswirl fired on the Troopers as they realized that their targets had come to the area that they were guarding at the moment, though Ratchet still thought it was strange to see the differences between the Goons of his dimension and the Monks of this one. Both brothers were still surprised by the fact that all of the Troopers liked to talk, either taunting in nature or simply having a discussion amongst themselves while they were fighting all of their enemies or targets, though it was of no consequence to them as they blasted all of their foes apart. In the end the brothers were able to wipe out all of Emperor Nefarious' Troopers, since Ratchet refused to admit that they were Dr. Nefarious' forces, allowing KT-7416 the time to finish up her hacking and freeing her Monk brothers from their prison.

When it came time for them to leave, to head back to 'Monktown', the Monks actually used a dimensional rift to teleport back to their homes, one directed by their power and not set to random like all of the others they had seen so far, and the moment it was done, with the rift sealing itself behind them, KT-7416 returned to Ratchet's back so they could move on to the other two temples.

As Ratchet and Starswirl explored the rest of the area, as there were Lorbs to acquire, some surrounded by enemies while others were protected by either force fields or a moving platform that floated above the ground, they asked KT-7416 is she had a nickname of some kind. It was mostly because while they could remember her given string of numbers and letters, in fact both used it when addressing her every now and then, Ratchet knew that giving her a nickname might help her out in some manner and make things easier for them. She admitted that she was called 'sister', which was more of a title given by the other Monks when the brothers thought about it, so while they traveled Ratchet tried to give her one, where he had a few ideas in the form of Kaytee, Sunshine, and Kit, all of which she just thought about while saying nothing in response to him. She did, however, tell him that they shouldn't try to give her a nickname or try to be her friend, where Ratchet and Starswirl sighed for a time and told her that, in the short amount of time that they knew her, that Gary trusted her and the Monks liked her, so she shouldn't put herself down like this.

At the same time Ratchet collected a few more Lorbs and activated each one as they did so, the second revealing that the Lombax his father talked to considered the order over his lunch break and determined that it wasn't as impossible as he originally believed, he just needed the Dimensionator, a year and three weeks, and to never sleep again. That one was the day he remembered so much, when his father handed over the dimensional device to another Lombax for a mission, only now he understood part of the mission the Council gave him. After that Lorb they discovered that a few were about some of the dimensions that he ended up mapping, one being a place with beings that looked like Lombaxes, even though the figure he described sounded more like an anthropomorphic raccoon, a thief since he had a mask, a cane, and was pulling off a heist at the time of the mapping session. Such a thing caused him to track down most of the Lorbs, before worrying about the remaining two temples that were out there, finding dimensions with creatures made of relics that broke apart and were still alive, one with smart cubes, one with humanoid creatures that had one spinning around while firing a gun at his enemies while something hung on his shoulder giving live commentary.

During all of the messages they recovered Ratchet discovered when the unknown Lombax made his changes to the device his father kept hidden, changing the Dimensionator from a gun by turning it into a hat, before discovering something far more interesting, whoever his father had assigned the mission to might have mapped more than he expected.

"It has long been theorized that there's a special dimension, maybe even a multiverse, that exists on the other side of an impassible barrier, the Xeno Dimension." KT-7416 commented, though at the same time she was amazed by what she and the others were learning right now, as it almost sounded like this other Lombax might have actually discovered that it did exist, which, if such a thing happened to be true, would be outstanding.

"Dad likely had a hand in making sure these Lorbs were hidden, waiting for a Lombax to return." Ratchet said, because his father had done everything and anything in his power to make sure important or even forbidden knowledge was hidden, either to be found by him at some point or kept out of the hands of those who would misuse them, before he considered that idea for a moment, "Knowing him, there's likely a Lorb that was left out or kept somewhere safe, likely in the hands of one he trusted, that might help explain this whole 'Xeno Dimension' to us."

Starswirl had nothing to say to that, he agreed with Ratchet since he was sure that there was something Kaden hadn't told him and the others while they worked to get everything ready for the big day they had in store for his brother, though not a few seconds later he and Ratchet reached the Forest Temple. Sure enough there were more Troopers keeping a number of Monks contained behind a barrier, guarded by a Juggernaut no less, to which they opened fire on their enemies before any of the Troopers knew what was going on, even if they were delighted by discovering rebels to punish. Both brothers were surprised to find that the personalities that the Troopers had, that they were so giggity when it came to dealing with all those who opposed their Emperor, confirming that the one Juggernaut that burst out of a dimensional rift on Fastoon had come from this dimension. Despite being outnumbered they were able to wipe out the Troopers that were guarding the area right now and allowed KT-7416 to approach the terminal that was connected to this particular prison dome, only it would take her some time to hack since it was an older model.

While she did that more Troopers arrived and assaulted the area, causing the brothers to restock their weapons with the ammunition crates that were nearby, as while Ratchet would have preferred to have Starswirl teleport to Ms. Zurkon for a time, to restock, he wasn't about to risk further dimensional cracking by doing such a thing. As such they made sure to use their weaponry appropriately, trapping many of their enemies in a single area to maximize the usage of their ammunition, a fact they had done several times in the past before not needing to worry about such a thing. Even with that hazard they were able to clear out the Troopers that were coming at them, while KT-7416 dealt with the terminal and undid the barrier around the Monks, allowing them to teleport out of the area and return to Monktown like the others. With the area taken care of Ratchet and Starswirl returned to Ms. Zurkon and restocked their ammunition, because both of them had a feeling the last one might be just as harsh as the second was, all while their new companion was silent as she thought about what was going on right now.

After making sure they were ready to go, and Ratchet was sure that they had all of the Lorbs before the last temple, they started to cross a wooden bridge and jumped over some gaps, only to find something surprising, Gary was off on the side, standing on one leg as he balanced himself in some sort of meditation.

"Ratchet, Starswirl, I see you've found my apprentice, and you have Hoverboots, which means you're ready to enter the Mountain Temple." Gary replied, speaking as soon as they came to a stop near him, as there was another path off to their right that lead up to where the last Lorb was located, which Ratchet wanted to get so they had all of them, though that was when Gary considered something, "Well, both of you are emotionally ready to enter. You will need to overcome the temple's elaborate defense system, or, as we lovingly call it, the 'Gauntlet of Trials Slash Doom'."

"Oh, I hate slash doom!" KT-7416 remarked, where Ratchet and Starswirl couldn't tell if she was being serious or if this was an attempt to inject some humor into what they were doing, given the invasion that was going on right now, but she stuck to Ratchet's back as they moved away from her master.

Sure enough, due to Ratchet's desires, they used a few rifts and a short rail grind to reach the final shrine, where he just waited for a few moments to claim it from it's resting place, where he found that it revealed something he suspected, the Lombaxes were attacked and scattered, while the majority was in one place. The Dimensional Map, according to Mags, as that was the mysterious Lombax's name, would point them to the dimension that they would be gathering in, thought it, in itself, was just a copy of the true Dimensional Map that must have been taken with the Lombaxes. It was hard to tell if KT-7416 knew that fact or not, and if she did she didn't say anything about it, though with it in hand the brothers returned to the gauntlet, where they found that it was a series of timed trials, as pressing a button revealed a path they had to use their Hoverboots to get across quickly. Both brothers found some of them to be rather easy while a few more were rather hard, as the very last one of them all happened to be the longest one that required them to switch from their Hoverboots to their Grindboots, then back so they had enough speed to actually grab a Swingshot with their devices, and it even had a set of the walls they found in Nefarious City, all to get to the end.

A few sniper Troopers were guarding the last group of Monks, in an area shrouded in fog no less, allowing the brothers to destroy all of their enemies before they even had a chance to understand what was going on, and once both of them were sure that everything was fine they walked up the stairs. This time around the terminal KT-7416 needed to hack into had what she called a Zeta virus inside it, exactly like what Ratchet had seen in Nefarious City before he asked Glitch to help out with the terminal so they could get into Nefarious Tower, causing him to pull her out again. What he discovered was that she was more than willing to assist them this time around, to which he held her out and she surged into the terminal, allowing them to rest for a while as she did her work inside the device, blasting away the virus that had infected it. While they waited for her to do that Ratchet thought about his sisters and Clank, wondering if they had already found the Phase Quartz they needed to power the Dimensionator, as it sure seemed like the easier task, but with no communications for the time being he just had to wait and hope for the best.

When Glitch returned the virus dissolved into nothingness and KT-7416 was able to lower the barrier, allowing the Monks to warp back to Monktown, only this time they opened a portal to drag the brothers and KT-7416 with them, dropping them in front of Gary's position.

"Ratchet, Starswirl, KT-7416, you made it!" Gary said, though based on how he was standing and how he acted Ratchet was almost certain that he knew they would come out on top, while the other Monks continued to meditate now that they were no longer trapped inside their various prisons, "Thank you for freeing my brothers."

"Gary, we must get inside the Dimensional Archives... it is very urgent." KT-7416 replied, as while she was happy to lend her fellow Monks a hand, and saved them from whatever Emperor Nefarious' forces had planned for them, she knew that the quest Ratchet and Starswirl were on was important.

Gary nodded and informed his brothers that it was time to 'grease some dimensional wheels', allowing them to open yet another dimensional rift in front of them, which seemed to connect to an earthen ramp of sorts and another rift, which had to be a series of them to make sure they built up enough speed to launch themselves at their target. With that done Ratchet and Starswirl activated their Hoverboots before speeding off, surging through the rift and racing down the path that was in front of them, and there were even boosters for them to use to increase their overall speed. Sure enough Ratchet found that he was right about the path, the rifts brought him and Starswirl to different sections of the mesa, even an underground area they hadn't been to during their time helping the Monks, before reaching what seemed like the end. The brothers raced up the ramp that was the end of the path that Gary and the others had prepared for them and launched themselves into the air, allowing them to soar over all of Urfdah Mesa for a short period of time, before noticing that even all of that wouldn't be enough to reach the top of the Archives.

Fortunately there was a rift on the balcony that KT-7416 had been on before it started moving, allowing them to connect to it and pull themselves over to it, only to find Troopers were tearing down the walls in an attempt to either bring the Archives down or get inside to obtain the information it contained.

As such Ratchet and Starswirl opened fire on the enemies that were around them, focusing on tearing down the larger ones first, since they were tougher than the others were, leaving the smaller ones to be wiped out by the crossfire, though they also found that KT-7416 was enraged by what the Troopers were doing. It made sense, considering that Gary had put her in charge of this device, or maybe it was a temporary assignment for her, and the brothers suspected she was making him very proud of her, even if she wasn't fighting their enemies herself. Such a thing caused Starswirl to wonder something, that if she was Clank's dimensional counterpart, which he and Ratchet agreed on, did she have a warbot mode, like Clank's giant form, though if that was the case it was possible that, as a Monk, she had to swear off violence and never use it, not unless the need was truly dire for her. In the end he decided not to pay too much attention to the possibilities as they tore through all of their enemies and used a bounce pad near one of the edges to get up to the highest point, where the brothers had to fight not one but two Juggernauts at the same time, which would be slightly easier thanks to their expanded arsenals and all of the upgrades they had purchased so far.

It took a bit of doing, especially since they had to dodge two lasers until the first was taken down, but the brothers wiped out both Juggernauts and opened the way into the Archives, allowing KT-7416 to climb off Ratchet's back so she could see if there was any damage and make sure everything was okay.

"Good. The Dimensional Map is perfectly safe." KT-7416 said, referring to the floating mass that was above a shrine, one that was large enough to be a crescent disc of sorts, though as they took in that it was a mass of stars, the dimensions to be exact, while Ratchet and Starswirl walked over the walkway in front of them, taking in the sites.

"So, this is where dad hid the information on where to forge the Dimensionator." Ratchet commented, as he spotted the language of the Lombaxes on the area below the Dimensional Map, causing him to sigh as he wondered what his parents were thinking right now, given that it looked like he was supposed to inherit the position as it's Keeper from his father at some point during the celebration, "He gave everything to protect it, and almost gave up his life to keep it safe from those who would misuse it... I must be an embarrassment to him, letting it be taken and destroyed."

As KT-7461 scanned the information in front of them she asked if Ratchet missed the rest of his race, where he told her it was complicated, as part of him did and another part didn't, due to having his parents and a few others to learn from, all while Starswirl said nothing, he really had no idea what to say to his brother, before they learned the information that they needed to know.

"We can make a new Dimensionator, but the forge to do so is located at Kedaro Station, one of the heavily guarded places in the galaxy." KT-7416 replied, though as she saved the blueprints in her memory, so they could be used later, she noted that Ratchet and Starswirl were leaving and that one was still using her serial code as her name, causing her to make up her mind on what they had said earlier, "Ratchet? I think... Kit is my favorite."

As the brothers smiled for a moment, because it was nice to help her break out of her shell like this, they head something explode outside and Ratchet put Kit on his back as they headed outside, finding more of the Trooper ships flying through the air, firing at the legs that allowed the Archives to walk like this. Kit was, understandably, enraged by the scene that was unfolding before her eyes, to the point where she refused to go with Ratchet as she walked forward, causing Starswirl to hold a hand out to stop his brother, as it seemed like she was about to break her Monk code. Sure enough she paused for a few seconds, as if accessing that other side of herself, before her arms and legs were pulled into her body as she briefly touched the ground for a few seconds, where she swiftly expanded outward, a larger body forming as massive feet quickly replaced her own, her main body bulked out, and her large arms emerged. Her warbot form was outfitted with what had to be two plasma guns, one on each arm, and she had a jetpack, no doubt to fly if she needed to do so, where she quickly targeted all of the flyers and opened fire on them, loosing bursts of plasma energy that zeroed in and smashed each of her targets into oblivion, leaving nothing behind.

It was shocking how surprising she was in this mode, that she could decimate the invaders and actually stuck to her code for as long as she could, though as the sky cleared, and they determined that no more enemies were nearby, she turned on them for a moment as leveled one of her guns at Ratchet, before suddenly coming to and reverting to her smaller form once more, only looking ashamed of herself.

"I told you... I do not make a great partner... you two would be in constant danger." Kit said, hanging her head low as she walked up to where they were standing, clearly ashamed of the fact that she had nearly blasted two of Gary's allies with her weaponry, which both brothers were sure she only used when the need was great, "You would not understand, I was built as a weapon... to keep the Emperor's galaxy 'secure'. One night, when I was in Nefarious City, I spotted a rebel in the Imperial Zone, so I tried to 'stop' them by using the weaponry that was installed inside my body... I am sure I hurt them, as I heard a cry while it happened. It was... what I was built to do... to hurt... so, when I came here, I realized I could keep the galaxy safe from my programming."

"You're just like Clank... he comes from a series that was designed to destroy, but he's a hero in our dimension, so I bet we could help you like we helped him." Starswirl remarked, as while he understood Kit's story, in fact he was sure they might have discovered what happened to Rivet's arm, something Ratchet didn't want to think about based on the look he found in his eyes.

Kit, of course, was surprised by their inability to be scared of her other form, or the fact that they were in danger with her traveling with them, but, at the same time, she was filled with joy to have new people accept who she was, so she quickly accepted Ratchet's hand as she returned to his back, allowing them to use a rift to return to Monktown. Ratchet, on the other hand, turned and headed back for the town that was resting in the middle of the mesa, as he wanted to hand over the last Lorb to the Monk who had asked for them, just to cross that task off their list. Kit was happy about that, as while all twelve items had information that she wasn't expecting to find, Ratchet and Starswirl had filled in the blanks for her so she could understand what was going on with Kaden, Mags, and the Lombaxes at the time. At the same time Starswirl was interested in the Xeno Dimension that Kit had mentioned, figuring that they could ask Gary before departing for their next destination, since he was smarter than most of the Monks they had run into during their time on Savali.

Sure enough they found that the Monk asking for the Lorbs was surprised and nearly speechless when he realized that all twelve were now in his possession, though he headed inside his hut for a moment before returning, which meant that he must have some reward for them.

"A Lombax left this is our care, said that 'two lights of his life' would hold the keys to opening it." the Monk said, where he revealed what looked like a Lorb, only this one seemed to be bronze colored, meaning it was likely more important than the ones they had risked their lives to obtain, before Ratchet noticed a slot that a familiar shape could rest in.

"They weren't necklaces... they were keys! Dad must have discovered some sort of secret about the Xeno Dimension and locked it away like this." Ratchet commented, though as he pulled out his necklace, confirming that it could fit into half of the slot, he and Starswirl noticed something weird, this Lorb had some designs on it, like nineteen spheres around what looked like a blazing sun, before he faced the Monk, "Keep it safe. Once Rivet and I, and our siblings and friends, save the dimensions we'll come back and open it... I can only imagine the information that stored inside it."

As the Monk nodded, and stored it away once more, Ratchet could only wonder what in the world his father might have found before the attack that scattered most of his race, before sighing as he returned to their ship, as it was time to head to another world and forge the Dimensionator, all while he hoped Rivet, Autumn, and Clank were doing alright.

Comments

[Golden_Reflection]

So, it looks like Blizar Prime is next, and then we get to my favourite level, as it includes my boy Juice who is one of my favourite one-off characters.